Lush green vegetation now dominates the rolling hills of St Paul, with stalks and leaves reaching knee high heights along the trails. Some plants, like the lupin and grasses, have already gone to seed, while others are still advertising colorful pedals to pollinators. By pollinators, of course, I mean insects. Most days the hoards of insects seek refuge within the vegetation, to avoid getting blown out to sea, but when the wind is down and the sun comes out, those insects make themselves known. This particular specimen I found yesterday is a species of Ichneumon Wasp, characterized by a long thin stripped abdomen (that happens to be tucked away and concealed by a wing in this photo). Easily mistaken for a stinger, female Ichneumon Wasps have a long needle-like extension on the end of the abdomen called an ovipositor. As one might guess from the name, females use the ovipositor as a syringe for injecting eggs into trees and logs, fortunately for me not living tissue.
Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM + Canon EF 25mm Extension Tube II, ISO-800 f/9 @ 1/100 sec.
No comments:
Post a Comment